Because of the increasing quantities of trash and waste requiring collection, there remains a need to improve the reliability and efficiency of trash collection apparatus. It has been known in the prior art to provide apparatus for lifting a trash container from the ground and dumping the container into a collection vehicle or truck. Some of such lifting mechanisms have elevated the trash container over the side of the vehicle whereas other lifting mechanisms have been arranged to lift the trash container over the front or back of the vehicle. A typical arrangement has been to employ tracks or rails with means to guide the container along the tracks or rails from a pick-up position to a dump position and return.
Of specific interest to the present invention, it has been known to provide an apparatus for lifting a container with a lifting apparatus that rides on rollers which follow separate tracks on opposite sides of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,707 exemplifies this construction.